Donald Young's amazing streak

R

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
kme5150 said:
Most people don't realize how the ATP Pension Plan works, so here is a little inside info.

A player must play in 10 ATP main tour events in a calendar year to get a qualifying year. The Grand Slams don't count because they are ITF. You have to have 5 qualifying years in order to secure your pension. Part of their pension is also that they receive medical benefits. Challenger and Futures events do not count

Yes, all those wildcards that he received into main tour events count as events played. The other thing that people don't realize is that you get ATP points and money for losing, even in the qualifier, for most ATP events.

He played 10 ATP events in 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and so far he is on track to play to 10 this year. Most of those early ATP tournaments he received wildcards into. Basically the USTA has given him his ATP retirement.

I don't dislike the young man, I just think he should have EARNED his ATP pension rather than have it given to him. I doubt if anybody in the history of the game has been given as many wildcards as he has.

Now they are on to their next wildcard experiment, Jack Sock with 5 ATP wildcards this year. Five more to go this year and he will be 20% on his way to his pension.

In the meantime, Ryan Harrison, (who earned his way through the tour) is continuing to climb up the rankings.
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You clearly don't know what you're talking about.

1st off, Ryan Harrison, at this point, probably has had more WCs than DY. If you don't believe me go to itftennis.com and look it up.

Most of DYs WCs came in 2005/06, again, itftennis.com.

2007 was his '1st' breakthrough year, as a result he made the top 100 near the end of the year, meaning he was able to get DA into most tourneys for the 2008 season.

2009 he had to qualify for the US Open, which he did. Not sure how many WCs he got, but, again, itftennis.com

Edit. Was a bit off on my estimate, but, still stand by my point.

Here's what I found.

Harrison, 19 WCs, not counting 2 Aussie Open WCs cause he won the playoffs, plus Newport this wk cause he was ranked high enough to get in.

2012 4 WCs
Madrid, Miami, Memphis, Auckland

2011, 9 WCs
US Open, Winston Salem, Cinci, Washington, Queens, Houston, Miami, IW, Delray Bch

2010 5 WCs
Newport, Queens, Miami, IW, San Jose

DY, 25 WCs, not counting 2 US Open WCs cause he won K'zoo, plus Newport '08 cause he was ranked high enough to get DA

2011 4 WCs
Basel, US Open, Winston Salem, Atlanta

2010 5 WCs
US Open, New Haven, Cinci, Atlanta, Houston

2009 2 WCs
Washington, Memphis

2008 3 WCs
New Haven, Cinci, IW

2007 3 WCs
US Open, New Haven, Indy
 
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Rhino

Rhino

Legend
DY plays wild card Steve Johnson, the world #400, in the first round of the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Looks like the streak is surely about to end now.

Or is it? :)
 
westside

westside

Hall of Fame
Rhino said:
DY plays wild card Steve Johnson, the world #400, in the first round of the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Looks like the streak is surely about to end now.

Or is it? :)
Click to expand...

There's nothing I dislike more than a streak ending :twisted:
 
Matt H.

Matt H.

Professional
donald young is the biggest hype bust of all time.

The good news for him, was that all the hype was when he was 15, and he's still a week away from only turing 23.

He can still put together a solid next 5 years and have a Mardy Fish-like career.
 
Rhino

Rhino

Legend
Wow. Just wow. If the world #400 can't threaten the streak, then who can??
DY is on fire! Well reverse-fire.
 
B

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
I almost feel sorry for him now. Seriously. I never hated DY like so many here, though I've been indifferent. But, what keeps me from feeling too sorry for him is that DY is hardly the first or last person that this sort of streak has happened to. Plenty of players throughout tennis history have embarked on a career, had a little success, and then hit the skids. There's multiple players going through similar things every year. That's the cruel world of professional tennis.
 
Mustard

Mustard

Bionic Poster
Losing has become a habit for Young. He needs to break it, fast. He has to defend a Round of 16 at the US Open soon, and if his form carries on like this, his ranking is going to plummet.
 
Doubles

Doubles

Legend
Part of my wants to feel bad for him, after all, he seems like he's got a good personality, and this streak is unfortunate. However, he also seems to have made some poor decisions, career-wise, which are no ones fault but his.
 
B

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
Mustard said:
Losing has become a habit for Young. He needs to break it, fast. He has to defend a Round of 16 at the US Open soon, and if his form carries on like this, his ranking is going to plummet.
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I think that's pretty much unavoidable at this point. He has to defend a Slam rnd of 16, a couple of 500 SFs (or is it a 500 and 250 SF), and a 250 final. There's little chance he can defend all of this at this point.

So, later this fall, when he's ranked 130ish and no more auto entries into slams and Masters, maybe that will jolt him into making some changes.
 
K

kme5150

Rookie
This has to be one of his toughest loses, considering they are the same age and took totally different paths. This might finally be the wake-up call that he needed.

Being around Isner, Roddick and Harrison for a while at the Olympics might be just what he needs.
 
stormholloway

stormholloway

Legend
kme5150 said:
This has to be one of his toughest loses, considering they are the same age and took totally different paths. This might finally be the wake-up call that he needed.

Being around Isner, Roddick and Harrison for a while at the Olympics might be just what he needs.
Click to expand...

DY should have just given away his Olympic slot to Baker. That would have been the mature thing to do.
 
batz

batz

G.O.A.T.
DY lost to a guy his own age with a ranking of what?

I watched him beat Murray a couple of years ago and I thought I was looking a possible top 25 player - maybe higher.

What happened to that guy?
 
T

Tcbtennis

Hall of Fame
batz said:
DY lost to a guy his own age with a ranking of what?

I watched him beat Murray a couple of years ago and I thought I was looking a possible top 25 player - maybe higher.

What happened to that guy?
Click to expand...

I watched most of the match last night between Young and Johnson (when my live feed was working). Overall it was a low quality unforced errorfest by both sides. There were some good rallies interspersed that showed why for a brief time Young went up the ranking list but those were far and few between.

In the first set Donald had multiple opportunities (6 in one game) to break Johnson but could not capitalize on any. He moves the ball around the court very well but with too much height and spin and not enough pace. Any decent player who is fast and/or has good anticipation can get to his balls easily and drive through them. He's got a great lefty forehand that can really pull his opponent off the court but when he gets the short ball from that, he loops the next shot to the open court with nothing behind it and his opponent then drives the running forehand down the line.

He's not very big but there are other players on tour around his size that can put some pace behind the ball (i.e. Ferrer, Davydenko). Is it his grip, swing pattern? I don't know but he has to change something. It's as though he cannot consistently finish the point when he gets the easy ball. Also, his passing shots are awful. He routinely offered Johnson some shoulder height shots at the net that Johnson easily put away for winners.
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
its pretty hard to keep a high enough ranking to play in 20 or 15 straight tournaments while losing 1st round at every one.

not sure if Young can reach 20 because if his ranking falls low enough he won't get direct entry or would have to qualify or start playing challengers. and wins/losses in qualies or challengers don't count in win or loss streaks.

the streak could continue in a bizarre way. say he loses 1st round of his next 4 events. then plays & wins a few challengers. then loses another 1st round. he would then have a 20 match loss streak, despite winning matches at those challengers in between losses.

DY should have just given away his Olympic slot to Baker. That would have been the mature thing to do
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I doubt there's anyone on tour(or perhaps the planet) that would have done that. Playing Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He earned his spot on the team according the rules. imagine a player qualifying for Wimbledon(6 weeks out I believe) then stinking it up every event until then. should he give his spot up to the guy that just missed the cutoff but has been playing much better than him in the last 6 weeks? Tennis is still just an individual sport, despite it being in the Olympics(esp with ranking points now offered), no player should ever give another player an opportunity to get ranking points at their expense, if they do they clearly shouldn't be playing professionally.
 
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West Coast Ace

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
Matt H. said:
He can still put together a solid next 5 years and have a Mardy Fish-like career.
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Mardy Fish always had weapons; just didn't take the game seriously (see food diet). What weapon is Young going to use once he hits 23?

As far as the hype, I'm sure the pundits thought the Youngs would interview top tennis coaches and turn Donald over to the one they thought was the best fit. If you'd told JMac that Donald's morbidly obese mother would continue to coach him, he would have said, "have you seen that forehand on Sam Querrery!?"
 
J

jakemcclain32

Banned
West Coast Ace said:
Mardy Fish always had weapons; just didn't take the game seriously (see food diet). What weapon is Young going to use once he hits 23?

As far as the hype, I'm sure the pundits thought the Youngs would interview top tennis coaches and turn Donald over to the one they thought was the best fit. If you'd told JMac that Donald's morbidly obese mother would continue to coach him, he would have said, "have you seen that forehand on Sam Querrery!?"
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And that his whole box looks like a McDonalds Brigade...
 
stormholloway

stormholloway

Legend
Moose Malloy said:
I doubt there's anyone on tour(or perhaps the planet) that would have done that. Playing Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He earned his spot on the team according the rules. imagine a player qualifying for Wimbledon(6 weeks out I believe) then stinking it up every event until then. should he give his spot up to the guy that just missed the cutoff but has been playing much better than him in the last 6 weeks? Tennis is still just an individual sport, despite it being in the Olympics(esp with ranking points now offered), no player should ever give another player an opportunity to get ranking points at their expense, if they do they clearly shouldn't be playing professionally.
Click to expand...

You can't compare Wimbledon to the Olympics, ever. Top players skip the Olympics all the time. Sampras did. Look at Fish. He's skipping the Olympics right now. So your comparison is invalid.
 
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M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
You can't compare Wimbledon to the Olympics, ever. Top players skip the Olympics all the time. Sampras did. Look at Fish. He's skipping the Olympics right now. So your comparison is invalid.
Click to expand...

Yet Fish played it in '04(winning silver) & Sampras played in '92(playing singles & doubles), a bit more understandable they would skip it later, once they experienced the 'Olympic experience' once. Do you think Young will get another chance? This might be the highlight of his career, even if he loses 1st round.

and again, ranking points are at stake here as well, no lower ranked player would or should ever give up their spot, this isn't a team competition.

I recall Mac saying not playing in an Olympics was one the biggest regrets of his career(skipped it in '88, but badly wanted to play in '92 & didn't qualify)

Most top players of the last 20 years played in at least one Olympics which I think is sort of telling(Sampras, Agassi, Courier, Chang, Becker, Edberg, Hewitt, Roddick, Kuerten, Safin, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray - they can all call themselves Olympians. So can Young. And Spadea!)
 
B

bluetrain4

G.O.A.T.
Moose Malloy said:
its pretty hard to keep a high enough ranking to play in 20 or 15 straight tournaments while losing 1st round at every one.

not sure if Young can reach 20 because if his ranking falls low enough he won't get direct entry or would have to qualify or start playing challengers. and wins/losses in qualies or challengers don't count in win or loss streaks.

the streak could continue in a bizarre way. say he loses 1st round of his next 4 events. then plays & wins a few challengers. then loses another 1st round. he would then have a 20 match loss streak, despite winning matches at those challengers in between losses.



I doubt there's anyone on tour(or perhaps the planet) that would have done that. Playing Olympics is a once in a lifetime opportunity. He earned his spot on the team according the rules. imagine a player qualifying for Wimbledon(6 weeks out I believe) then stinking it up every event until then. should he give his spot up to the guy that just missed the cutoff but has been playing much better than him in the last 6 weeks? Tennis is still just an individual sport, despite it being in the Olympics(esp with ranking points now offered), no player should ever give another player an opportunity to get ranking points at their expense, if they do they clearly shouldn't be playing professionally.
Click to expand...

Totally agree about the Olympics. Baker would be a MUCH better choice right now. Baker would probably do better. Baker's story would be ready to play over and over in fluff pieces during the broadcast But, I have no problems with DY going. He owes his spot to no one. He met the criteria. Criteria he had no role in setting. He didn't lobby for a spot. The opportunity fell in his lap, and with his career rapidly going in the wrong direction, this could be one of his last big career highlights. Basically no one would give up a spot. I don't expect DY to.
 
Rhino

Rhino

Legend
DY draws Andreas Seppi at the Olympics. I guess we can expect the streak to go on (and on and on)...
 
R

Rob_C

Hall of Fame
stormholloway said:
You can't compare Wimbledon to the Olympics, ever. Top players skip the Olympics all the time. Sampras did. Look at Fish. He's skipping the Olympics right now. So your comparison is invalid.
Click to expand...

Sampras & Fish both have also previously competed in the Olympics. Sampras was always going to be ranked among the top 4 Americans, and high enough to get DA into the Olympics. There's no guarantee 4 yrs from now DY will be ranked among the top 4 Americans & top 50 on the ATP, so, for him, it very well might be a once in a lifetime opportunity
 
augustobt

augustobt

Legend
Young will walk out the court wearing this
nike-roger-federer-rf-15-t-shirt-02.jpg
 
W

World Beater

Hall of Fame
Sid_Vicious said:
Mcenroe does say some stupid stuff, especially these days. However, you have to give the guy credit for some of his impressive predications. Mcenroe started the comparisons with Sampras right after Federer won his first slam. Looking back, it was pretty impressive.

Also, Mcenroe said earlier this year that the top 4 should not underestimate Isner. Within the next month, Isner beat Federer and Djokovic. I bet his ego swelled up after that. :)
Click to expand...

Yes.

But the call on federer wasn't a unique one. There were others like goran, safin, hewitt who all hailed federer as the most talented of their generation.

So it wasnt as if mac was saying something totally out of the blue here - others were saying the same thing.
 
W

World Beater

Hall of Fame
zagor said:
Oh I remember, funny thing is at the time Courier said there will never be another Sampras but as years went by and Fed started dominating Jim become one of the former pros who praised Fed the most.

One of the other pros who praised Fed so much relatively early (although Fed was already a 2 time slam winner and #1 by then) was Goran, here's the interview if you're interested:

http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=18233

Q. The single toughest player that you faced over your career and the toughest stroke that you've had to deal with?

GORAN IVANISEVIC: Maybe toughest player I ever play is Pete, you know, because is guy that gives you only one, two chances per match, and if you don't take those chances, you finish. Usually with all these guys, I play lot of matches, but usually you get more chances. With him, two, three if he's generous, you know. I think with him it was the toughest for me to play. You know, he beat me twice here in Wimbledon. But also Andre is a guy that was very tough to play. Becker, another guy. His serve was unbelievable. But I still think that Federer is the biggest talent from all the players I ever play in my career. I don't know if he's going to win so many Grand Slams like Pete, but definitely he's the most talented player I ever play.

Q. Does he have a greater range of talents than Pete? How would you explain?

GORAN IVANISEVIC: Some things he does better than Pete. I mean, on the court he's like magician. Pete was destroying. Pete was serving. Nobody talked ever about Pete's serve. They were only talking about my serve. But when you play Pete, you couldn't touch his serve, you know. Even when you returned, then he hits forehand winner and the point is finish. But Federer, the way he plays, he's back, he comes in. When you look him, you think tennis is very easy sport, but it's not.




True, another poster here (Fedex) made a similar prediction.
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Goran is a *******. Therefore it doesnt count:)
 
Rhino

Rhino

Legend
Nostradamus said:
Donald Young has said he has gone back to his old prince and he will win Gold medal.
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Well Seppi just rolled him in the first round so it's lucky number 15 for DY.

He should've played the LA tournament instead. He surely would've broken the streak there. But I guess everybody wants to be able to say that they were an Olympian once.
 
roysid

roysid

Hall of Fame
Well done donald young. Six more to go.
or does he want to break the streak by making a large statement like beating fed or djokovic.
 
Nostradamus

Nostradamus

Bionic Poster
Rhino said:
Well Seppi just rolled him in the first round so it's lucky number 15 for DY.

He should've played the LA tournament instead. He surely would've broken the streak there. But I guess everybody wants to be able to say that they were an Olympian once.
Click to expand...

Maybe Donald needs to get used to his old Prince frame again. Then we will see the Real Donald, the top 30 player, he was. albeit it brief.:)
 
hcb0804

hcb0804

Hall of Fame
Rhino said:
Well Seppi just rolled him in the first round so it's lucky number 15 for DY.

He should've played the LA tournament instead. He surely would've broken the streak there. But I guess everybody wants to be able to say that they were an Olympian once.
Click to expand...

No, DY would have lost there too. Probably first round again.
 
Rhino

Rhino

Legend
So the Don gets his next shot at snapping the streak in Toronto. This time verses Jeremy Chardy. Hmmm, could be a tight one.

BTW; in defense of DY, he did actually win a match right before the Olympics: a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory in doubles in the first round of the BB&T Atlanta Open at Atlantic Station.
 
J

jokinla

Hall of Fame
Rhino said:
So the Don gets his next shot at snapping the streak in Toronto. This time verses Jeremy Chardy. Hmmm, could be a tight one.

BTW; in defense of DY, he did actually win a match right before the Olympics: a 6-2, 7-6 (5) victory in doubles in the first round of the BB&T Atlanta Open at Atlantic Station.
Click to expand...

I don't know if you saw the match, but DY's partner actually had him covering one alley and that's it, it worked out great.
 
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